International trade / import business
Date Published
Many stores run by Chinese merchants specialised in importing goods from China via Hong Kong and sometimes Singapore.
From the very beginning, the Chinese community in Australia included merchants—people who came specifically to trade and establish stores in ports such as Sydney and Melbourne. These merchants supplied goods to the Chinese community and acted as agents linking Australia with Hong Kong. In fact, many were originally Hong Kong-based businesses that opened branches in Sydney, Melbourne, or even Penang, as in the case of Low Kong Meng, a well-known early Chinese merchant.
The first arrivals from Guangdong in the colonial goldfields were via Hong Kong with their passages paid for by merchants for whom their travel was an investment from which they expected a return. These same merchants often sent goods to sell in the same ships, while the goldseekers soon began to send back money to their families. Thus, establishing a remittance flow that generated numerous "goldfields shops" to handle this aspect of international trade.
Often based in Hong Kong and later Shanghai many members of the Chinese Australian community built up international links and established major trading enterprises. The so called "Big Four" only being the most prominent.
On a smaller scale many businesses in Sydney and Melbourne handled imports from China and Hong Kong to catered for the needs of Chinese Australians. This included supplying the increasingly popular Chinese restaurants that sprang up around Australia.
Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these businesses imported goods from Hong Kong. They were not the only ones to do so—many non-Chinese firms also imported goods from China and Hong Kong. This was much more common in the nineteenth century than is generally recognised. Over time, however, Australia’s trade focus shifted increasingly toward England as shipping routes improved and international commerce became more centralised there. As a result, the Chinese community became more commercially self-reliant, dealing mainly within its own networks.
In turn, these Chinese businesses expanded their activities, including ventures such as the banana trade from Fiji and, later, the establishment of enterprises in Hong Kong and Shanghai, notably Wing On and Sincere. The goods they imported included foodstuffs and various novelty items sold in Australia—from fireworks to other consumer products. These merchants were leaders within their district associations and, in the early twentieth century, helped establish Chinese Chambers of Commerce. These organisations were also prominent in political affairs, supporting the Nationalist Party and opposing the White Australia policy as much as they could.
Early imports form China - Oil paintings
